Rush, Steampunk and Candide4 Out Of 5 Stars
The Rush of 2112 is back, the band of Moving Pictures, the conceptual maestros of concept albums; their 20th studio album and they sound as ferocious and powerful as ever. "Clockwork Angels" is Neil Peart's musing on faith and hope in the time of tragedy (and is allegedly inspired by the work of 17th century French philosopher Voltaire's Candide). Having lost his wife and daughter, then his drum mentor, Peart took a journey into the wilderness and came back with the seeds of what is this album. As he intones on the opener, "I can't stop thinking big."
That alone should tell you you're in for a near classic Rush CD. The band (or at least the central character in the upcoming novelization of the album) is traveling through time and making sense of the chaos surrounding him. He meets up with "The Anarchist," in a seven minute all-the-stunts prog-rocker and the "Carnies," who pound the drums between the 'flint and steel and games of chance." The bass-work here alone will melt your lasers.
Then there are the songs that are trademark rush, like the opening "Caravan" that starts our journey and "Headlong Flight," which propel you through the plot with reckless efficiency. "I wish I could live it all again" screams Geddy Lee (in fine voice), as he defies the clockmaker to make him downtrodden about the curves life has thrown his way and the rest of the band is pulsing with muscle right in their behind him. Or the eff-off of "Wish Them Well," as Lee tells us to ignore the cynics and make peace with what life has for you.
"Clockwork Angels" is a dense and powerful album, and given the long-in-toothiness of the band, Rush are still staking out territory few contemporaries can even dip their toes in. Maybe Peart measures out a life that goes "from bad to worse" (BU2B), but he is still optimally a heartbeat in a band that plays by its own set of rules and seems to find ways to make time stand still for their fans, and for their own sense of optimism.
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